Book Image

Up and Running with Affinity Designer

By : Kevin House
Book Image

Up and Running with Affinity Designer

By: Kevin House

Overview of this book

Affinity Designer is a widely adopted creative application, and in a reasonably short space of time, it has become a leading design and illustration application. Affinity Designer, along with Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher, is part of a suite of award-winning creative software applications developed by Serif Europe. Built on the latest technologies, which make it fast and smooth, Affinity Designer is quickly becoming the go-to professional creative application for vector drawing and pixel-based painting. Up and Running with Affinity Designer is a comprehensive hands-on guide to the Affinity Designer software. Whether you're new to the creative industry, a seasoned professional looking for a proven alternative, or an enthusiastic hobbyist, this book will help you get up to speed in no time. You’ll learn how to create documents and explore workflow best practices while working through practical exercises using the knowledge and skills developed in each chapter to solidify your understanding of the fundamentals. Finally, you’ll bring it all together with real-world practical applications by building a fun logo and professional illustration, forming a base for in-depth exploration in your own projects. By the end of this Affinity Designer book, you'll have gained the knowledge and confidence to use Affinity Designer as part of your creative toolset.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
1
Section 1: Getting Familiar with Affinity Designer's Interface and Layout
5
Section 2: Deeper Exploration of Affinity Designer's Documents, Tools, and Workflow
9
Chapter 7: Tools – Pixel Persona
12
Chapter 10: Workflow: Symbols, Assets, and History
13
Section 3: Bringing It All together

The Color panels

The first three Studio panels we will discuss are what I call the color panels because of their related functionality. These panels are intertwined with each other so much so that they really should be covered as a group. They are the Color, Swatches, and Stroke panels:

Figure 5.2 – The Color, Swatches, and Stroke panels

Fills and strokes

Vector objects in Affinity Designer consist of either fills or strokes. Think of the fill as the inside of a shape and the stroke as an outline applied to the outside of a shape. A stroke can also just be a line with no fill, referred to as a vector curve or path.

The Color and Swatches panels relate to Color properties for both fills and strokes. The Stroke panel relates to the many options and properties of a stroke. Some of the options in all three of these panels will change depending on the type of object selected or which options on the panel are selected. We will take a closer look at...